EXCLUSIVE: A Northern England lawyer has revealed his passion for rugby was his secret weapon in luring Coldplay away from the country's biggest stadiums and convincing the band to play at his local stadium next summer.
How to play rugby
A week ago, more than a quarter of a million fans queued up to buy tickets to see the most popular British band of the 21st century in their home country. A few days earlier, Coldplay had announced that they would bring their Music of the Spheres world tour to the UK in the summer of 2025, where they had decided to play in just two cities.
The setting of London’s Wembley Stadium came as no surprise. The other location, however, made people pause: Craven Park in Hull, in the northeast of England, a weather-beaten sports ground that on normal weekends welcomes a few thousand fans cheering on their local rugby club.
The club's owner, local lawyer and businessman Neil Hudgell, told Deadline how the surprising turn of events came about through his 20-year friendship with Simon Moran, the owner of a rival rugby club as well as the promoter of some of the world's best live artists, including Coldplay.
